Christmas Eve in Japan is very much a date night, perhaps the biggest of the year. Couples go to see festive Christmas lights, have a nice dinner and exchange gifts; the night really matters. But about those gifts…

How much money are you planning on spending on your significant other this holiday season? How much are you expecting them to spend on you? If you’re single, how much do you think your potential darling would want to dish out for a Christmas present? A recent poll gives us a great insight into how much we should probably be spending.

People who can’t start a meal until they’ve snapped the perfect picture and shared it on Facebook or Instagram, with hashtags, of course. People who walk slower than your grandma in a crowded mall or train station because they’re engaged in some mobile game or have their eyes glued on to some soap opera on their tiny screens. And then there are those who feel the incessant need to check if anyone “liked” their recent status update, or consistently have twenty group chats to reply to. There are so many of such cases these days, I’m sure you know what I’m driving at.

I’m talking about people who are addicted to their smartphones. Apparently some of them get so engrossed in their phones that they can’t walk or board the subway with their own legs.

In many Asian cultures, blood type is said to determine one’s personality or unique characteristics. If you’re not familiar with the traits associated with each blood type, check out our handy guide here (and see if what it says about you is accurate or not!). That said, people with AB blood type are known to be slightly mysterious and the most creative thinkers of the bunch. They may engage in unique hobbies, display genius tendencies, and continually startle you with unexpected surprises the more you get to know them.

So what’s a lady to do when the object of her affections happens to be a gentleman with type AB blood? Perhaps the following handy tips will help you snag his heart if nothing else does!

Like many children, I had an imaginary friend. Unlike many children, mine was a cat. I used to play with him in the garden and yell at my family when they pretended to kick him. I never had an imaginary boyfriend though…

You’ve read about the art of taking a convincing fake-girlfriend selfie. Maybe you downloaded one of those virtual boyfriend apps to compliment you all day long. Perhaps you bought a hug pillow (complete with washable shirt) to snuggle with all night. These stunning photos of an “imaginary girlfriend” and “imaginary boyfriend”, however, bring a new and quiet beauty to the world of the imaginary friend.

Ah, spring. The season of love. Or at least it’s supposed to be. Some people get completely passed by, leaving them staring at cherry blossoms alone and no one to share their delicious strawberry kakigouri (shave ice) with. They’re just… lonely. So very, very lonely.

But maybe you want to change that. Find someone to spend the summer vacation with, someone to laugh at your jokes, bicker with about which Pokémon is cutest.

For young and middle-aged women in China who just want to live freely without being hounded by their parents to marry, renting a boyfriend for a day could be the perfect answer! Japanese news site, Nikkei, recently sat down with 27-year-old financial businessman and volunteer boyfriend, Wang Zhuo, for an interview regarding his 100 plus “girlfriends” over the past two years. Could it be that for whatever reason China’s women are becoming increasingly dependent on rental boyfriends? We’ve seen how it works for lonely ladies in Japan! What sort of insights has Wang gained into these Chinese women’s desires… Read More

“Hey, there’s no way I’m splitting with you, babe. After all, we’re supposed to be lovers, right?”

Moving words from our own Mr. Sato there, but perhaps relationships aren’t always quite so straightforward? What if, for example, you feel that the relationship you’re trapped in has all the passion and energy of a punctured party balloon, while your partner is still penning sonnets and writing messages in fire outside your window? There’s no easy way to tell them that it’s over. Or is there? One 23-year-old Tokyoite thinks she may have stumbled upon a powerful, if slightly disgusting, method.

The most dreadful day of the year for single guys and girls is approaching in a few weeks. No, it’s not the Valentine’s Day. In China, there is a day that can be a hundred times worse than the Valentine’s Day: the Lunar New Year.

On New Year’s day (which falls on 10 February this year), families gather, feast and catch up with one another, and young men and women working in the cities take a break and return to their hometowns to pay their respects to the elders. During this once-in-a-year family gathering, there is one inevitable question that always comes up and that young adults cannot hope to avoid being asked by their relatives: “So… when are you getting married?” For those who are already attached, this may be a good conversation starter or nice way to segue into the topic of their new significant other. But for the singles – especially the ladies – being asked the same old question each year is just a never-ending nightmare.

Japan provides its lonely men with plenty of way to find sweet respite from the emptiness and isolation of everyday life—provided you have the cash. And we’re not just talking about prostitution: you can rent a girlfriend at Moé Date for day of “simulate romance” or find a cuddle partner at Soine-ya to help you rest easy at night.

But what about the ladies? Women get lonely too, so it seems unfair that such services would only be available to men.

Believe it or not, even before either of the above establishments were in business, there was Soine-ya Prime, a dispatch service where women can hire a handsome young man to lay with her in bed for a night.

In Japan, goukon, are mixers meant to set the stage for finding a mate. They are designed to help young adults find at least a relationship, if not a suitable marriage partner, and are often organized by businesses like in the ad above.

The average goukon brings together around three to five people of each gender and takes place at a restaurant or izakaya (Japanese-style bar). Groups are seated randomly, usually with seats alternating by gender so everyone can get to know each other better.

Business organizational skills aside, most women know that the chance of a relationship forming from a goukon depends on the efforts of the participants. A certain protocol must be followed if a man wants a woman to give him the time of day. If he is too out-of-place, then it could cause embarrassment all around.

Japanese website Otome Sugoren surveyed their female readers to find out what kind of guy they think shouldn’t even bother showing up to the goukon party. Men: be sure to pay attention so you know what not to do at your next goukon. After all, while you may be there to play the field, women are serious about finding someone! Read More

“I like this guy… but is he suitable for marriage?” This is one of the most important questions Japanese women ask themselves in considering a life time mate. Marriage can be daunting even in the best of circumstances, so it’s crucial to have some assurance you’re making a good choice when deciding on that special person that you want to spend the rest of your life with.

Otome Sugoren, a website featuring articles on love, relationships and marriage, surveyed its female readers to get these results. The reporter who compiled the info and wrote the article is a Japanese woman herself, so you can be sure of its authenticity! Here are the top nine things Japanese women check out when Looking for a suitable marriage partner: Read More

A lot of people have romantic fantasies of hooking up with someone from another country. Yet there are rare opportunities for the mystery and novelty of such a relationship for most people. That shouldn’t stop us from dreaming of it though.

The folks at MyNavi set up a survey asking men and women what country besides Japan they’d go in search of a girlfriend or boyfriend. Based on this survey here are the top 5 countries for both Japanese men and women and reasons for their choices.

Dating can be difficult and costly no matter what country you live in, but because of the economic inequality and old-fashioned customs of China it can be a down-right nightmare.

Take one Mr. Hu of Hubei Province whose girlfriend, ironically named Ms. Yuan, he had been dating for a couple months. However, because of money troubles he was unable to buy her presents and had to turn to a life of crime.

However, what could have been a romantic “man in love against the world” kind of rebel story turned out incredibly lame when the target of Hu’s criminal behavior turned out to be none other than Ms. Yuan herself.